A first trip to London #whatsthestory

Back in April 2012 we took Monkey of a first trip to London. I hadn’t been keen before on trying to steer a toddler around London in a buggy. But we had a special reason to visit London at that time and we were arriving en-masse!

We were taking monkey on a first trip to London to cheer on his cousin C who was running the London Marathon. We met up with his Auntie and Uncle when we arrived at Marylebone and caught the bus near to Buckingham Palace. All very exciting for a 2-year-old. We navigated the crowds and found the rest of the family just outside the Palace. It was a great spot as we could stand back from the barriers (room for the buggy too) and still see the action.

Monkey didn’t really understand why all these people were running past us, but he grasped that it was exciting and when we saw Cousin C everyone cheered. She did really well; exceeded her expected time (I can’t remember what it was now) and we were all really proud.

Whilst we were waiting for her to cross the finish line, we explained to Monkey who lived in the ‘big house’ behind us.

It’s something that stuck with him amazingly. Whenever we’ve seen the Queen on TV or Buckingham Palace he’s always remembered a first trip to London and seeing where she lives.

I’m not sure that the day has inspired any of us to run a marathon any time soon but it was wonderful to experience the atmosphere and great to see C as she ran past. A memory to treasure.

I have to be honest, even with family around us, I was dreading travelling around London with a 2-year-old; especially on such a busy ‘event’ day. But we managed it, everyone helped get us to where we needed to be and I’m really glad we did it.

Just need C to decide to go back and do the New York Marathon again now, as that’s somewhere I’d love to go with a 5 year old!!

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About Over 40 and a Mum to One

I'm a Mum with an 8 year old son. I had a busy life in Export Sales before my Monkey came along, but decided to become a stay at home Mum once he arrived. Now I enjoy writing my own family lifestyle and travel blog. sharing the adventures that we have as Monkey makes his journey through school. We have a cat called Brewster who makes appearances and I’m a mad Ferrari Formula 1 fan, so that expect to hear about as each season unfolds. We love reviewing days out, toys, games and books and would love the opportunity to look at anything that fits in with our family lifestyle. We are always out and about and offering an insight on the places we visit, with a passion for nature thrown in for good measure. If you like what you read please leave me a comment, I love to hear from people, and always try to reply. Enjoy the read.

8 thoughts on “A first trip to London #whatsthestory”

Impressed you did that-still not taken my son down yet. Although we’ve been a few times with our eldest. I can’t see my son enjoying the Tube at all, ironic considering his love of trains, but I’m fairly sure he’d hate actually using it! I’ve been to watch the marathon a couple of times-good fun but never enough to inspire me to run that far.

London is great for little ones. I remember taking N to Winter Wonderland when he was 2 and in the buggy and the tube was a nightmare. All the stops I’d checked were step free had works on, broken lifts and noone to help up and down stairs while I was trying to carry him and the buggy. I doubt he remembers any of that visit because the weather was rubbish and he spent much of the time under the raincover asleep.

We’ve been since last summer to see The Tiger Who Came to Tea with friends and it was brilliant. The boys walked lots, and I’m looking forward to taking N back again soon. He loves London.

I’m not sure I’d do New York with him until he’s a bit older though. When I went with a friend, we walked 14 miles on the first day and she couldn’t hack it. While we did do the subway, we only did one visit to say we’d done it. Was so much easier to walk everywhere (which is my usual method in London too if I’m on my own out of choice).

I remember going to London to watch my Uncle run the marathon when I was little, it was a great experience. It sounds like you all had a lovely day and Monkey has taken a lot from it too. I think you were brave going to London with a buggy, we took our kids to London for the first time last year too.

Very brave of you. We just took our little one away for the weekend, and while doing stuff with young kids is five times the work (on an easy day) it’s so rewarding. As long as you allow yourself some time to recover after! #whatsthestory

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